Distribution valve and method

ABSTRACT

A distribution valve includes a fluid inlet port and a plurality of fluid outlet ports, wherein the distribution valve includes a housing including a fluid inlet ( 3 ). The housing includes an upper section ( 15 B) and a lower section ( 15 B). A gear reduction assembly ( 2 ) located in the housing includes a gear reduction mechanism ( 2 A) and impeller ( 2 B) located near the inlet port and connected to a rotary input shaft of the gear reduction mechanism ( 2 A). A cam device ( 6 ) engages a rotary output shaft of the gear reduction mechanism so as to rotate the cam device in response to rotation of the impeller. The cam device ( 6 ) includes a raised section ( 6 A having their own a raised camming surface ( 6 B) which rotates in response to rotation of an impeller of the impeller ( 2 B). A plurality of valve assemblies disposed in the lower section ( 15 A) are arranged to open or close fluid paths through the plurality of fluid outlet ports ( 4 ), respectively, in response to rotation of the camming surface ( 6 B). Each valve assembly includes a valve seat in the corresponding fluid outlet port, and a hinged valve plate ( 9 ) in the lower section ( 15 A) connected to contact the valve seat so as to close the outlet port and to move away from the valve plate to open the outlet port. Each valve assembly also includes a lift pin ( 10 ) connected to the valve plate ( 9 ) for engaging the camming surface ( 6 B) to open and close the outlet port as the cam device ( 6 ) rotates. The cam device ( 6 ) rotates in response to the impeller assembly and gear reduction assembly to sequentially open and then close the valve assemblies. In the described embodiment, the cam device ( 6 ) operates to begin opening the next sequential valve assembly before completely closing the present valve assembly.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application claims the benefit of prior filed co-pendingU.S. provisional application Serial No. 60/246,406 filed Nov. 7, 2000entitled “DISTRIBUTION VALVE AND METHOD” by contributor William C. Tarr.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The invention relates to distribution valves, particularly todistribution valves for distributing water from the high-pressure sideof a swimming pool pump to various groups of cleaning heads locatedalong the inner surface of a swimming pool, particularly to suchdistribution valves which require less torque to be produced by aninternal impeller and gear reduction assembly, and more particularly tosuch distribution valves which can deliver a large amount of water foreach outlet port with a low water pressure drop across an open theoutlet port with a valve.

[0003] A number of multi-port distribution valves for sequentiallydistributing pressure from the high pressure port of a swimming poolpump to various groups of cleaning heads imbedded in the bottom and sidewalls of the pool are known. These include the distribution valvedisclosed in commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,523,606 by Gould et al.,issued Jun. 18, 1985, entitled “DISTRIBUTION VALVE” and U.S. Pat. No.4,570,663 by Gould et al., issued Feb. 18, 1986, entitled “DISTRIBUTIONVALVE WITH DUAL CAMS TO PREVENT UNCONTROLLED EXCURSIONS OF VALVE BALLS”,both of which are incorporated herein by reference. Each of thedistribution valves disclosed in the above referenced patents includesan impeller-driven gear reduction mechanism and a plurality of outletvalves controlled in response to the gear reduction mechanism. U.S. Pat.Nos. 4,523,606 and 4,570,663 disclose gear reduction mechanisms whichinclude a stationary planetary gear disposed about a vertical axis ofthe distribution valve, a pair of symmetric gear assemblies each drivenby a gear attached to the impeller, with each of the symmetric gearassemblies being supported on a rotary gear support base, and each alsohaving an outer gear engaging the teeth of the planetary gear to causethe rotary gear assembly base to rotate in response to rotation of theimpeller and thereby drive at least one foot-shaped cam which rotatesthrough a 360° angle and sequentially displaces balls from a valve seatof an outlet port. In each of the above prior distribution valves thepool return water from the high pressure side of the pool pump is fedinto a vertical inlet pipe connected to the top of a dome-shaped coversection of the distribution valve.

[0004] The above mentioned distribution valves have been widely used,and the gear and impeller mechanisms have proven highly reliable.

[0005] However, a fairly large force is required to be applied by thegear reduction mechanism to turn the cam that pushes the valve ballsaway from their valve seats in order to open the valves. Common mineraldeposits may occur on the valve balls and gears and may further increasethe amount of torque required to be applied by the cam a to push thevalve balls from their valve seats. The increased amount of requiredtorque greatly increases the amount of stress on the gears of theplanetary gear assembly. The results of the stress include “locking up”of the gear reduction mechanism and breaking of the gears in theplanetary gear assembly, resulting in the need for repair andmaintenance and associated downtime for the pool recirculation andcleaning system. That causes increased warranty replacement costs andloss of customer good will.

[0006] The above described distribution valves typically requireapproximately 18-22 in. lbs. of torque to be applied by the planetarygear assembly to rotate cam as necessary to displace the various valveballs in order to open the valves. It would it would be desirable toprovide a distribution valve which requires substantially less torque tobe produced by the gear reduction mechanism of the distribution valve inorder to turn the cam, which then pushes the valve balls away from theirrespective valve seats in order to open the valves, because this wouldreduce stress and wear on the gears of the planetary gear assembly, andwould result in longer product life before repairs are needed.

[0007] It would be desirable to increase the amount of water that can bepumped through each port of the above mentioned distribution valveswithout increasing the water pressure drop across the open valve. Itwould be especially desirable to accomplish this benefit without anexpensive re-tooling of the molds needed to manufacture the upper andlower housings of the above described distribution valves. It also wouldbe very desirable to accomplish the same benefit without having toredesign the planetary gear assembly presently being used. It also wouldbe very desirable to be able to retrofit existing distribution valveswith an improved valve structure which does not have the above mentionedproblems associated with mineral deposits and which can be accomplishedat a very low cost, perhaps even by do-it-yourselfers.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0008] It is an object of the invention to provide an improveddistribution valve which requires substantially less torque to turn acam which successively opens the sequence of outlet ports of thedistribution valve.

[0009] It is another object of the invention to provide an improveddistribution valve which reduces the pressure drop across each internalvalve when it is open, especially in the presence of mineral depositsfrom swimming pool water on internal parts of the distribution valve.

[0010] It is another object of the invention to provide an improveddistribution valve which results in longer life of an internal gearreduction assembly.

[0011] Briefly described, and in accordance with one embodiment thereof,the invention provides a distribution valve having a fluid inlet portand a plurality of fluid outlet ports, wherein the distribution valveincludes a housing including a fluid inlet (3). The housing includes anupper section (15B) and a lower section (15B). A gear reduction assembly(2) located in the housing includes a gear reduction mechanism (2A) andimpeller (2B) located near the inlet port and connected to a rotaryinput shaft of the gear reduction mechanism (2A). A cam device (6)engages a rotary output shaft of the gear reduction mechanism so as torotate the cam device in response to rotation of the impeller. The camdevice (6) includes a raised section (6A) having a raised cammingsurface (6B) which rotates in response to rotation of an impeller of theimpeller (2B). A plurality of valve assemblies disposed in the lowersection (15A) are arranged to open or close fluid paths through theplurality of fluid outlet ports (4), respectively, in response torotation of the camming surface (6B). Each valve assembly includes avalve seat in the corresponding fluid outlet port, and a hinged valveplate (9) in the lower section (15A) connected to contact the valve seatso as to close the outlet port and to move away from the valve plate toopen the outlet port. Each valve assembly also includes a lift pin (10)connected to the valve plate (9) for engaging the camming surface (6B)to open and close the outlet port as the cam device (6) rotates. Theplurality of outlet ports (4) are concentrically disposed around the camdevice (6). The cam device (6) rotates in response to the impellerassembly and gear reduction assembly to sequentially open and then closethe valve assemblies. In the described embodiment, the cam device (6)operates to begin opening the next sequential valve assembly beforecompletely closing the present valve assembly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012]FIG. 1A is a partial cutaway perspective view of one embodiment ofa distribution valve according to the invention.

[0013]FIG. 1B is a partial exploded, cutaway perspective view of asecond embodiment of a distribution valve according to the invention.

[0014]FIG. 2 is a partial section view of the embodiment of FIG. 1A.

[0015]FIG. 3 is a partial top perspective view of the lower section 15Aof FIG. 1B.

[0016]FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the cam 6 in FIG. 3.

[0017]FIG. 5 is a bottom perspective view of the lower section 15A ofFIG. 1B.

[0018]FIG. 6 is a partial top perspective view of the lower section 1Aof FIG. 1A.

[0019]FIG. 7 is a top perspective view of a single valve assembly 24shown in FIG. 6.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0020] Referring to FIGS. 1A and 2, one embodiment of the inventionincludes a distribution valve 1 having a lower section 1A and aseparable upper section 1B that is clamped in sealed relationship tolower section 1A. Upper section 1B includes an inlet port 3 as shown.Lower section 1A includes a plurality (in this case, six) ofconcentrically arranged outlet ports 4, specifically outlet ports 4A, B,C, etc., which sometimes are it collectively or individually referred toonly by reference numeral 4. A gear reduction assembly 2 withindistribution valve 1 includes a gear reduction mechanism 2A having aninput shaft driven by an impeller 2B. The gear reduction assembly 2 canbe essentially as described in any of the above mentioned references,which are incorporated herein by reference. The gear reduction mechanism2A includes a downward-extending output shaft 5 which is connected to acam device 6. Cam device 6 includes a raised peripheral section 6Ahaving thereon a camming surface 6B. As cam device 6 rotates, cammingsurface 6B operates to sequentially open and close a plurality of valveassemblies 12, one of which is disposed in the fluid path through eachof outlet ports 4A, B, C, etc., respectively.

[0021] Each of valve assemblies 12 includes a valve plate 9 having aflat bottom surface that precisely rests on and seals against a valveseat surrounding the fluid passage through the associated outlet port 4.Each valve plate 9 is pivotally connected by a pivot pin 11 to a boss 21(not shown in FIG. 1A) so that valve plate 9 can be raised by cammingsurface 6B to open the valve and thereby allow swimming pool waterforced into inlet port 3 to be forced out of the way subject outlet port4.

[0022] The hinged structure allows the valve plate 9 to be raised by thecamming surface 6B as the cam device 6 rotates, so as to open the valveassembly 12 of outlet port 4 and allow the swimming pool water forcedinto inlet port 3 to pass through distribution valve 1A. and be forcedout of the subject open outlet port 4. The hinged structure also allowsthe valve plate 9 to be lowered by cam device 6 onto the valve seat toclose the valve and thereby prevent the swimming pool water from flowingout of the subject outlet port. Dotted line 9-4′ in FIG. 2 shows theraised configuration of valve plate 9-4 (FIG. 3) while its lift pin 10-4(FIG. 3) is supported on subsequently described camming surface section6B-2 (FIG. 4). At the same time, all of the remaining valve plates 9rest on and completely seal against the valve seats of theircorresponding outlet ports 4. Numeral 14 in FIG. 2 designates a boss orstructure in which the hinge pins 11 are journaled.

[0023]FIG. 3 shows a top view of lower section 15A with upper section15B of distribution valve 15 of FIG. 1B removed. The valve assemblies12-1, 2, . . . 6 are shown surrounding cam device 6. As illustrated,lift pin 10-4 rests on camming surface 6B and valve plate 9-4 is pivotedupward about pivot pin 11-4, so valve assembly 12-4 is fully open. Allof the other valve assemblies are completely closed.

[0024] Referring to FIG. 1B, another distribution valve 15 includes alower section 15A and an upper section 15B. The general structures ofsections 15A and 15B, except for the valve assemblies of the presentinvention, are described in commonly assigned co-pending application“LOW PROFILE, LOW RESISTANCE DISTRIBUTION VALVE AND METHOD FOR SWIMMINGPOOLS”, by Blake et al., Ser. No. 09/189,176 filed on Nov. 10, 1998,Docket No. 2108-A-14, incorporated herein by reference. Distributionvalve 15 of FIG. 1B differs from distribution valve 1 of FIG. 1A mainlyin that inlet port 3 in FIG. 1A is provided in upper section 1B, whereasin FIG. 1B, the inlet port 3 is provided in lower section 15A. The valveassemblies 12 and the cam device 6 in FIG. 1B are essentially the sameas described above with reference to FIGS. 1A and 2.

[0025] The details of cam device 6, which can be composed of ABS plasticmaterial, are shown in FIG. 4. Cam device 6 includes base 6D having anintegral circumferential raised element 6A and an integral raisedsection 6C on the upper surface of the base 6D. A camming surface 6B,including camming surface sections 6B-1, 6B-2 and 6B-3, is provided onraised section 6A. The lift pins 10 of the various valve plates 9 rideup on camming surface 6B to open and close various the valve assemblies12 as cam device 6 rotates. A square hole 18 in inner raised section 6Creceives a the corresponding square drive from the lower portion ofdrive shaft 5, which is connected to the output shaft of gear reductionmechanism 2A.

[0026] Camming surface 6B includes a central horizontal section 6B-2 andthe two symmetrically opposed inclined camming surfaces 6B-1 and 6B-3.If cam device 6 rotates clockwise as viewed in FIG. 4, each lift pin 10rides up inclined camming surface section 6B-3 so as to gradually openthe corresponding valve plate 9, then hold that valve plate open as liftpin 10 rides along horizontal camming surface section 6B-2, andgradually lowers the valve plate 9 to gradually close the valve as thelift pin 10 rides down inclined camming surface section 6B-1.

[0027] Preferably, the lower portions of camming surface sections 6B-3and 6B-1 are located such that as the closing of one valve is beingcompleted, the opening of the next valve is beginning to occur, so thereis never a time when all of the valves are completely closed. Thisprevents a “spike” in the water pressure inside the distribution valve.

[0028]FIG. 5 shows a perspective view of the bottom of lower section 15Aof distribution valve 15 of FIG. 1B. As illustrated in FIG. 5, valveplates 9-4 and 9-5 both are slightly open, indicating that one of themis at the last stage of being closed and the other is at the beginningstage of being opened. The remaining valve plates 9 in FIG. 5 arecompletely closed and seals against their respective valve seats.

[0029]FIG. 6 shows a perspective top view of lower section 1A ofdistribution valve 1 of FIG. 1A, wherein six retrofittable valveassemblies 24-1, 2 . . . 6 are snapped on to the elevated ridges 28-1, 2. . . 6 as shown. FIG. 7 shows the details of a single valve assembly24, wherein valve plate 9, with lift pin 10 extending therefrom, isconnected by hinge pin 10 to a clip-on frame including a U-shaped wallhaving opposed side walls 24C and 24D connected in perpendicularrelationship to a back plate 24F as shown. Clip-on flanges 24A and 24Bare attached to and integral with the upper edges of side walls 24C and24D, as shown. If necessary, the undersides of flanges 24A and 24B canbe attached by a drop of glue to the elevated ridges 28-1 etc.

[0030] The above described distribution valves avoid the need to use theprecisions spherical acrylic valve balls of the prior art, and providethe additional advantages of requiring very little torque (onlyapproximately 5 inch-pounds at a flow rate of approximately 50 gallonsper minute, or even more, through the distribution valve) to be appliedto rotate cam device 6 so as to properly open the valve mechanisms 212.The little torque results in very little stress and wear of the gearreduction mechanism 2A, which reduces maintenance costs.

[0031] While the invention has been described with reference to severalparticular embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will be able tomake the various modifications to the described embodiments of theinvention without departing from the true spirit and scope of theinvention. It is intended that all elements or steps which areinsubstantially different or perform substantially the same function insubstantially the same way to achieve the same result as what is claimedare within the scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A distribution valve having a fluid inlet portand a plurality of fluid outlet ports, the distribution valvecomprising: (a) a housing including i. a lower section, ii. a removableupper section for sealed connection to the lower section; (b) a gearreduction assembly inside the housing, the gear reduction assemblyincluding a gear reduction mechanism and impeller assembly located influid communication with the inlet and connected to a rotary input shaftto drive the gear reduction mechanism; (c) a cam device engaging arotary output shaft of the gear reduction mechanism, the cam devicehaving a raised camming surface, the cam device and camming surfacethereon rotating in response to rotation of an impeller of the impellerassembly; and (d) a plurality of valve assemblies in the lower sectionarranged to open and close fluid paths through the plurality of fluidoutlet ports, respectively, in response to the rotation of the cammingsurface, each valve assembly including i. a valve seat in thecorresponding fluid outlet port, ii. a hinged valve plate in the lowersection connected to contact the valve seat so as to close the outletport and so as to move away from the valve plate to open the outletport, and iii. a lift pin connected to the valve plate for engaging thecamming surface to lift and lower than the valve plate as the cam devicerotates to thereby open and close the valve assembly.
 2. Thedistribution valve of claim 1 wherein the plurality of valve assembliesare concentrically disposed around the cam device.
 3. The distributionvalve of claim 2 wherein the cam device rotates in response to theimpeller assembly and gear reduction assembly so as to sequentially openand then close the valve assemblies.
 4. The distribution valve of claim3 wherein the cam device operates to begin opening the next sequentialvalve assembly before completely closing a presently open valveassembly.
 5. The distribution valve of claim 1 wherein the inlet port isin the upper section and the outlet ports are in the lower section. 6.The distribution valve of claim 1 wherein the inlet port is in the lowersection and the outlet ports are in the lower section.
 7. Thedistribution valve of claim 1 wherein the gear reduction assembly is aplanetary gear assembly.
 8. The distribution of claim 1 wherein eachvalve plate is connected by a hinge pin journaled in a boss extendingupward from and attached infixed relation to the floor of the lowersection.
 9. The distribution valve of claim 1 wherein each valve plate 9is connected by a hinge pin to a retrofittable bracket that fits onto aboss extending upward from a floor of the lower section.
 10. Thedistribution valve of claim 1 wherein the cam device [6] includes alower rate base driven by the gear reduction assembly supporting aperipheral camming member extending upward from the base, and a cammingsurface on the camming member.
 11. The distribution valve of claim 10wherein the camming surface includes a leading rising inclined cammingsurface, followed by a level camming surface, followed by a trailingfalling inclined camming surface.
 12. A method of distributing waterpumped from a swimming pool to an inlet port of a distribution valvethrough a plurality of outlet ports of the distribution valve tocleaning heads disposed in interior surfaces of the swimming pool, themethod comprising: (a) providing a valve assembly in the distributionvalve for each outlet port for opening and closing the outlet port, eachvalve assembly including a valve seat in the outlet port, a hinged valveplate connected so as to swing against the valve seat to close theoutlet port and the swing away from the valve seat so as to open theoutlet port, and a pin connected to the valve plate for moving the valveplate to open and close the outlet port; (b) rotating a cam device inresponse to a gear reduction mechanism in the distribution valve, thecam device being driven by an impeller in fluid communication withpressurized water in the inlet port; and (c) a leading camming surfaceengaging the pin of a first valve plate with a leading camming surfaceof the cam device to begin moving the first valve plate to begin openingof a first outlet port while also engaging a pin of a second valve platewith a trailing camming surface to move the second valve plate so as tocomplete closing of a second outlet port adjacent to the first outletport, the leading camming surface continuing to move the first valveplate so as to completely open the first outlet port after the secondoutlet port is completely closed, all of the remaining outlet portsbeing closed.
 13. The method of claim 12 including lifting the firstvalve plate to open the first outlet port and lowering the second valveplate to close the second outlet port.
 14. The method of claim 13including opening and closing the outlet ports by applying less thanapproximately five inch-pounds of torque to the cam device by means ofthe gear reduction mechanism at a flow rate of approximately 50 gallonsper minute or more.